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In the News

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January 2, 2009

Rice wins the 2008 Texas Bowl, 38–14

HOUSTON — Rice’s Chase Clement had a hand in all five touchdowns in leading the Owls to a 38-14 victory over Western Michigan in the third annual Texas Bowl Tuesday (Dec. 30) at Reliant Stadium.

Clement, Conference USA’s most valuable player, added the Texas Bowl’s outstanding player award by throwing for three TD passes, running for one and even catching a scoring pass from Rice all-America receiver Jarett Dillard. Rice (10-3) won its seventh consecutive game.

The senior from Alamo Heights, Tex., High, set Texas Bowl records with 30 completions (in 44 attempts) and those three TD passes. He also rushed for 72 yards on 12 attempts, including the 26-yard run that got the Rice rout started in the first quarter.

Clark Fangmeier’s 30-yard field goal made it 10-0 Owls after one period, then Clement passes to Toren Dixon for six yards, and to James Casey for 45 yards made it 24-0 at the half. That point total set a Texas Bowl record for the first 30 minutes of play.

The reversal of the most productive quarterback-receiver duo accounted for the Owls’ next TD. Clement and Dillard went into the game with an NCAA-record 50 touchdown passes for their careers, but Dillard was the passer and Clement the receiver on their 13-yard scoring play in the third quarter.

Then, in the fourth quarter, Clement made it 51 TD passes to Dillard with an 18-yard play to put the score at 38-0.

A two-yard run by Kirk Elsworth and a 13-yard pass from Tim Hiller to Schneider Julien gave Western Michigan (9-4) its only points late in the game.
The game was watched by 58, 880, the fourth-largest crowd to ever see a bowl game in Houston.